Chapter 66 Part 1: Fake
The male student told me his name was Kang Woo-Jung.
He said he was a sophomore of Hankuk University and had been attending practice every day to prepare for a performance at the freshman Welcome Party.
“Are you from the Band club?”
“I’m a dancer, so I’m in the Dance club.”
Well, I guess there is such a thing.
“So. read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.What about the other club members?”read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.
“That’s….”
When Hye-won asked, his face turned dark immediately.
It looked like it was going to be a long and difficult road.
“After the gate opened… I was always in the club room. read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.I’m scared to go outside, and the club room is in the basement, so I have to go around the club room just to get out… Fortunately, I sometimes fill up the club room with cups of rice and a few cans of beer to eat when I miss my meals, so I and my other club members… Was able to survive with that..”read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.
But the gate may have lasted longer than he expected.
It’s been exactly four days since this gate opened today, and they’re running out of food.
“The problem was drinking water. read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.There’s a water dispenser in the hallway just a short walk away, so we decided to take turns fetching water. read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.Earlier, Min-Chang and Ji-Ye were supposed to go together…”read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.
The latter’s words were drenched in tears.
I guess I already had a rough idea of what happened.
This is the Shapeshifter’s territory, and it specializes in targeting… Isolated minorities like this.
“Either one of them would have been a monster.”
“That’s right, but we didn’t know it! Ji-Ye suddenly came running in and said that Min-Chang had been attacked by a monster… And she was crying, so we thought that’s what happened! I was trying to comfort her, and then… Min-Chang knocked on the door…”
His voice trailed off.
“They both claimed that the other was a monster, right?”
“Yes… I couldn’t, we couldn’t pick anyone, so we just… desperately hoped that Ji-Ye wasn’t the monster, because if we didn’t open the door, Min-Chang who was outside the door would have died as it was.”
“But in the end, she was a monster.”
Kang Woo-Jung nodded silently.
The fact that He was here right now…
It was apparent.
The student inside with them would have been the monster, and the entire club room would have been turned into a place of tragedy, with Kang Woo-Jung, who was inside somehow managing to escape by himself, only to be chased to death by the monsters outside…
“It’s more intelligent than I thought.”
“It looks like they’re trying to eat the isolated students one by one like this.”
Kang Woo-Jung gripped my sleeve with a trembling hand, and when I looked down at him, his eyes were still filled with tears as he pleaded.
“Please… Help my friends… If we go back to the club room now, maybe, just maybe, there will be some of them… Alive, so…”
He knows It sounded hopeless.
He was already lucky enough to be found by us and survived.
The rest of the students… Wouldn’t have survived out there, no matter how well they escaped.
“I don’t blame you, but we have something else to do.”
“What? Don’t you think you should save us first? That’s what Hunters do… Saving the citizens, like us…”
Well, I don’t know.
A lot of people seem to mistake it for that.
However, a hunter’s primary job is not to rescue citizens.
It’s to ‘Clear the gate.’
Rescuing ordinary people is only secondary.
A quick clear is always the best rescue.
“Listen, we entered this gate for very personal reasons, and we risked our lives for the same reason.”
Hye-won let out a small growl.
“We have no government support, and we are under no obligation to save the other citizens.”
“But you have the power!”
Kang Woo-Jung cried out.
“You killed that monster in one fell swoop! Saving us is nothing to you! With that kind of power, shouldn’t you be able to help us?”
The cowardly young man who ran away, leaving his friends behind, shouted.
He was only a kid.
Maybe he was clinging to us to ease his guilt.
Maybe he was genuinely taking our work lightly and was just being silly.
Either way, it was nothing for us, skilled hunters, to get worked up with.
Standing in the way of Hye-won, who was about to get angry, I calmly warned Kang Woo-Jung.
“If you’re grateful that we saved your life, just answer our questions, and we won’t ask anything more of you. read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.Your friends are yours to save.”read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.
Kang Woo-Jung opened his mouth to say something, but closed it and nodded silently.
“Do you know where the Department of Gate Systems Science is doing their membership training?”
“… I don’t know if it’s that department, but I heard that a certain department was having membership training that day.”
“Where?”
“… I can take you.”
That’s good enough.
It would be a hassle to take Kang Woo-Jung with us, but we couldn’t just leave him here anyway.
“Take him, I’ll feed him and make sure he’s safe along the way. read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.This isn’t volunteer civilian protection. read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.We’re trading your information for our resources. read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.Do you understand?”read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.
“… I understand.”
Luckily, he was quick to comply, after all he’s a total walking flesh of meat for monsters inside this gate.
He had a vague idea that his friends weren’t going to make it out alive anyway.
It was the kind of tragedy most ordinary people caught inside a gate, experience.
Kang Woo-Jung, who was enjoying a normal college life before, was faced with such an ordeal.
It was too harsh a fate to say that he was simply unlucky.
“Let’s go, Unnie.”
“…Yes.”
“Yeon-Won is still waiting for you.”
I glanced at Kang Woo-Jung as I walked past him with his head bowed.
I couldn’t completely rule out the possibility that he was a shapeshifter, or a monster, taking advantage of the opportunity to pose as a poor student on the run.
‘We’ll have to wait and see.’
That was all I could think of for now.
‘I’ve got work to do, and I’m not going to waste my time doubting if someone is a Shapeshifter, or not.’
❖
“What?”
Someone asked in a tone of disbelief.
“So, you’re saying… Chan-Jun went out… and died?”
“I saw it myself! He was bitten to death by a monster!”
“What nonsense… Chan-Jun just came in a few minutes ago and is resting first.”
Ominous thoughts suddenly flashed through everyone’s minds.
They tried to say no, but the person’s voice shouted again in desperation.
“He’s a fake!”
He was covered in wounds and blood, and his eyes were filled with despair.
“It’s a monster pretending to be a human!”
At the same time, everyone’s eyes turned to one side, to Kim Chan-Jun, who had just walked in.
But he wasn’t there.
It was as if he was never there, not even a trace of him.
“Uh…?”
Everyone looked at each other.
A chilling realization suddenly spread among them.
Chapter 66 Part 1: Fake
The male student told me his name was Kang Woo-Jung.
He said he was a sophomore of Hankuk University and had been attending practice every day to prepare for a performance at the freshman Welcome Party.
“Are you from the Band club?”
“I’m a dancer, so I’m in the Dance club.”
Well, I guess there is such a thing.
“So. read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.What about the other club members?”read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.
“That’s….”
When Hye-won asked, his face turned dark immediately.
It looked like it was going to be a long and difficult road.
“After the gate opened… I was always in the club room. read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.I’m scared to go outside, and the club room is in the basement, so I have to go around the club room just to get out… Fortunately, I sometimes fill up the club room with cups of rice and a few cans of beer to eat when I miss my meals, so I and my other club members… Was able to survive with that..”read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.
But the gate may have lasted longer than he expected.
It’s been exactly four days since this gate opened today, and they’re running out of food.
“The problem was drinking water. read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.There’s a water dispenser in the hallway just a short walk away, so we decided to take turns fetching water. read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.Earlier, Min-Chang and Ji-Ye were supposed to go together…”read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.
The latter’s words were drenched in tears.
I guess I already had a rough idea of what happened.
This is the Shapeshifter’s territory, and it specializes in targeting… Isolated minorities like this.
“Either one of them would have been a monster.”
“That’s right, but we didn’t know it! Ji-Ye suddenly came running in and said that Min-Chang had been attacked by a monster… And she was crying, so we thought that’s what happened! I was trying to comfort her, and then… Min-Chang knocked on the door…”
His voice trailed off.
“They both claimed that the other was a monster, right?”
“Yes… I couldn’t, we couldn’t pick anyone, so we just… desperately hoped that Ji-Ye wasn’t the monster, because if we didn’t open the door, Min-Chang who was outside the door would have died as it was.”
“But in the end, she was a monster.”
Kang Woo-Jung nodded silently.
The fact that He was here right now…
It was apparent.
The student inside with them would have been the monster, and the entire club room would have been turned into a place of tragedy, with Kang Woo-Jung, who was inside somehow managing to escape by himself, only to be chased to death by the monsters outside…
“It’s more intelligent than I thought.”
“It looks like they’re trying to eat the isolated students one by one like this.”
Kang Woo-Jung gripped my sleeve with a trembling hand, and when I looked down at him, his eyes were still filled with tears as he pleaded.
“Please… Help my friends… If we go back to the club room now, maybe, just maybe, there will be some of them… Alive, so…”
He knows It sounded hopeless.
He was already lucky enough to be found by us and survived.
The rest of the students… Wouldn’t have survived out there, no matter how well they escaped.
“I don’t blame you, but we have something else to do.”
“What? Don’t you think you should save us first? That’s what Hunters do… Saving the citizens, like us…”
Well, I don’t know.
A lot of people seem to mistake it for that.
However, a hunter’s primary job is not to rescue citizens.
It’s to ‘Clear the gate.’
Rescuing ordinary people is only secondary.
A quick clear is always the best rescue.
“Listen, we entered this gate for very personal reasons, and we risked our lives for the same reason.”
Hye-won let out a small growl.
“We have no government support, and we are under no obligation to save the other citizens.”
“But you have the power!”
Kang Woo-Jung cried out.
“You killed that monster in one fell swoop! Saving us is nothing to you! With that kind of power, shouldn’t you be able to help us?”
The cowardly young man who ran away, leaving his friends behind, shouted.
He was only a kid.
Maybe he was clinging to us to ease his guilt.
Maybe he was genuinely taking our work lightly and was just being silly.
Either way, it was nothing for us, skilled hunters, to get worked up with.
Standing in the way of Hye-won, who was about to get angry, I calmly warned Kang Woo-Jung.
“If you’re grateful that we saved your life, just answer our questions, and we won’t ask anything more of you. read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.Your friends are yours to save.”read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.
Kang Woo-Jung opened his mouth to say something, but closed it and nodded silently.
“Do you know where the Department of Gate Systems Science is doing their membership training?”
“… I don’t know if it’s that department, but I heard that a certain department was having membership training that day.”
“Where?”
“… I can take you.”
That’s good enough.
It would be a hassle to take Kang Woo-Jung with us, but we couldn’t just leave him here anyway.
“Take him, I’ll feed him and make sure he’s safe along the way. read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.This isn’t volunteer civilian protection. read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.We’re trading your information for our resources. read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.Do you understand?”read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.read only at salmonlatte . com. This annoying watermark is not there.
“… I understand.”
Luckily, he was quick to comply, after all he’s a total walking flesh of meat for monsters inside this gate.
He had a vague idea that his friends weren’t going to make it out alive anyway.
It was the kind of tragedy most ordinary people caught inside a gate, experience.
Kang Woo-Jung, who was enjoying a normal college life before, was faced with such an ordeal.
It was too harsh a fate to say that he was simply unlucky.
“Let’s go, Unnie.”
“…Yes.”
“Yeon-Won is still waiting for you.”
I glanced at Kang Woo-Jung as I walked past him with his head bowed.
I couldn’t completely rule out the possibility that he was a shapeshifter, or a monster, taking advantage of the opportunity to pose as a poor student on the run.
‘We’ll have to wait and see.’
That was all I could think of for now.
‘I’ve got work to do, and I’m not going to waste my time doubting if someone is a Shapeshifter, or not.’
❖
“What?”
Someone asked in a tone of disbelief.
“So, you’re saying… Chan-Jun went out… and died?”
“I saw it myself! He was bitten to death by a monster!”
“What nonsense… Chan-Jun just came in a few minutes ago and is resting first.”
Ominous thoughts suddenly flashed through everyone’s minds.
They tried to say no, but the person’s voice shouted again in desperation.
“He’s a fake!”
He was covered in wounds and blood, and his eyes were filled with despair.
“It’s a monster pretending to be a human!”
At the same time, everyone’s eyes turned to one side, to Kim Chan-Jun, who had just walked in.
But he wasn’t there.
It was as if he was never there, not even a trace of him.
“Uh…?”
Everyone looked at each other.
A chilling realization suddenly spread among them.
